With the aid of my trusty stepfather Chuck, I installed an air conditioner in my bedroom window. This presents many problems, leading this to be the first summer since my divorce and subsequent move back into Mom and Chuck's, that the unit has graced my sill since the late 90's. For starters, I have one of those windows that slides side-to-side. Therefore, I had to grab a tape measure and scientifically guesstimate the size of the hole that needed filling (stop giggling!) and go to Lowe's and buy a treated plywood board. Well, after a good long afternoon's struggle that involved me climbing a ladder to the garage roof outside my bedroom window, and Mr. Chuck entering my greatly embarrassing disaster area of a bedroom, we managed to vaguely wedge in the air conditioner and WELL out of proportion board.
It is now no longer hotter than the ninth circle of hell in my bedroom, although it remains as unsightly.
Well, it's getting hotter. See, this house was constructed with materials and electrics that I can only describe as shoddy, at best. God bless the thankfully out of business Federal Pacific and their pieces-of-shit breaker panels. This from a former (briefly, in the early 2000's) electrician's apprentice.
So I have to turn it off to run the computer, lest I overload the notoriously "no trip" breakers and either trip the damned thing well prematurely, as was the norm back in the day, or else spark a towering inferno causing me to have to jump out of the house in my birthday pajamas.
And the last thing this neighborhood needs is a 285 lb naked guy running around.
---
I don't think I've told you yet.... I'm teaching myself Spanish. I'd been wanting to continue learning since working at Chipotle and picking up healthy-sized bits and pieces of it from the Mexican workers. Now, you have no idea the resistance and even subtle hostility I have received from people for this. One glance at me with a Spanish Basics book, and on several occasions I have been greeted right of the bat with a terse "They should learn English."
Gotta love small-town midwest Ohio. Anyhoo, I actually can think of a whole host of good reasons for this:
1) I'm jealous as hell of people who can speak more than one language.
2) I'm fucking sick and tired of obsessing over photography. My brain needs something else to chew on, and this new hobby is a God-blessed relief. I picked up a Spanish-language edition of People Magazine, and with the help of online dictionaries learned that Maybelline's new mascara brush will give your eyelashes the boldest look, as luscious as patent leather. You learn something new everyday.
3) It's actually very therapeutic. The self-discipline and the openness to learn that it requires has improved my mental sharpness, and has greatly extended my short term memory span to just slightly longer than that of a goldfish.
4) The Latina women at La Raza, a Hispanic grocery store here in Troy with attached foodservice trailer, are hotter than hell. ...and now I have an excuse to flirt with them aside from just stopping by for lunch. I do recommend, though, the chicken burritos and the tacos with chorizo-beef combination. Cilantro, queso, sour cream, a generous splash of their homemade hot sauce, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. ¡Damn!
5) From a business standpoint, whether with my own photography, at Liz's studio, or even at Wally World, I want to be able to provide customer service to Hispanic customers who may not be quite fluent in English.
6) Since I volunteer my photography for the United Way, I thought it would be nice to also be able to volunteer my time at their HelpLink hotline once I become somewhat fluent.
7) There is an ever increasing Hispanic and Spanish-speaking population here, due to the transient workers who pass through this area, as well as the many new citizens. Yes, they should learn English. English is a beautiful and vibrant language. But I'm not going to be a total dickhead like everybody else and stand here all stubborn with my arms crossed expecting them to linguistically come to me. At Chipotle, each of the immigrant citizens were in their own personal phases of learning English... some like Fabiola took to it readily and went from basic vocabulary to fully conversational in less than a year. Some like Nallely struggled with its intricacies. English is a difficult language, and I felt irresponsible for not being able to meet them halfway. Latino immigrants are an invaluable (and permanent) part of America's ever changing cultural landscape. It's unforgivably ignorant, and just plain wrong not to be able to both teach and also learn from them.
I'm sure that any number of things I just said could be construed as politically incorrect or even offensive, but fuck it. You all know I speak from an honest (albeit characteristically naive) place in the spirit of brotherhood and good will. I'm not on some crackpot crusade to "save the poor Mexicans". I just want to embrace the new facet of America, hopefully make some new friends, and have fun in the process. :-)
---
I have to be up at 3 to make doughnuts, and I'm late getting to bed.
Buenas noches, y sueños dulces mis amigos.
It is now no longer hotter than the ninth circle of hell in my bedroom, although it remains as unsightly.
Well, it's getting hotter. See, this house was constructed with materials and electrics that I can only describe as shoddy, at best. God bless the thankfully out of business Federal Pacific and their pieces-of-shit breaker panels. This from a former (briefly, in the early 2000's) electrician's apprentice.
So I have to turn it off to run the computer, lest I overload the notoriously "no trip" breakers and either trip the damned thing well prematurely, as was the norm back in the day, or else spark a towering inferno causing me to have to jump out of the house in my birthday pajamas.
And the last thing this neighborhood needs is a 285 lb naked guy running around.
---
I don't think I've told you yet.... I'm teaching myself Spanish. I'd been wanting to continue learning since working at Chipotle and picking up healthy-sized bits and pieces of it from the Mexican workers. Now, you have no idea the resistance and even subtle hostility I have received from people for this. One glance at me with a Spanish Basics book, and on several occasions I have been greeted right of the bat with a terse "They should learn English."
Gotta love small-town midwest Ohio. Anyhoo, I actually can think of a whole host of good reasons for this:
1) I'm jealous as hell of people who can speak more than one language.
2) I'm fucking sick and tired of obsessing over photography. My brain needs something else to chew on, and this new hobby is a God-blessed relief. I picked up a Spanish-language edition of People Magazine, and with the help of online dictionaries learned that Maybelline's new mascara brush will give your eyelashes the boldest look, as luscious as patent leather. You learn something new everyday.
3) It's actually very therapeutic. The self-discipline and the openness to learn that it requires has improved my mental sharpness, and has greatly extended my short term memory span to just slightly longer than that of a goldfish.
4) The Latina women at La Raza, a Hispanic grocery store here in Troy with attached foodservice trailer, are hotter than hell. ...and now I have an excuse to flirt with them aside from just stopping by for lunch. I do recommend, though, the chicken burritos and the tacos with chorizo-beef combination. Cilantro, queso, sour cream, a generous splash of their homemade hot sauce, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. ¡Damn!
5) From a business standpoint, whether with my own photography, at Liz's studio, or even at Wally World, I want to be able to provide customer service to Hispanic customers who may not be quite fluent in English.
6) Since I volunteer my photography for the United Way, I thought it would be nice to also be able to volunteer my time at their HelpLink hotline once I become somewhat fluent.
7) There is an ever increasing Hispanic and Spanish-speaking population here, due to the transient workers who pass through this area, as well as the many new citizens. Yes, they should learn English. English is a beautiful and vibrant language. But I'm not going to be a total dickhead like everybody else and stand here all stubborn with my arms crossed expecting them to linguistically come to me. At Chipotle, each of the immigrant citizens were in their own personal phases of learning English... some like Fabiola took to it readily and went from basic vocabulary to fully conversational in less than a year. Some like Nallely struggled with its intricacies. English is a difficult language, and I felt irresponsible for not being able to meet them halfway. Latino immigrants are an invaluable (and permanent) part of America's ever changing cultural landscape. It's unforgivably ignorant, and just plain wrong not to be able to both teach and also learn from them.
I'm sure that any number of things I just said could be construed as politically incorrect or even offensive, but fuck it. You all know I speak from an honest (albeit characteristically naive) place in the spirit of brotherhood and good will. I'm not on some crackpot crusade to "save the poor Mexicans". I just want to embrace the new facet of America, hopefully make some new friends, and have fun in the process. :-)
---
I have to be up at 3 to make doughnuts, and I'm late getting to bed.
Buenas noches, y sueños dulces mis amigos.
posted by Grover at 6/24/2009 07:57:00 PM
5 Comments:
Save your $$$, Maybelline's new mascara isn't all it's cracked up to be!
Ok, seriously... who left that? Someone I know? No? Great. It had to be this post which my new Anonymous reader picked up on, and now they think I'm a drag queen.
* sigh *
I don't really give two hoots in hell about People's content. I'm just using it as a tool to learn everyday contemporary Spanish, not just text book Spanish.
But maybe Anon's right. I think Rimmel (for that "London look") might be a better choice.
:-P
This comment has been removed by the author.
Let me try that again. Something got fubar'd so I deleted the last comment.
Dude, do you even READ my blog anymore? I know it's locked up, but you have an invite and a way in.
If you did read, you'd know that I work in construction and as such, the majority of the laborers come from South America. (Don't even get me started on the intricate complexities of their class system based on the countries they come from.) Of the guys we have maybe 2 in 7 speaks a lick of English and maybe 1 of those guys is fluent. I've had to learn Spanish as best I can and I still suck at it. I'm starting to think I should take a course because my rusty high school Spanish is failing me.
And the whole "they should learn English" has its merits and I agree 100% that you should learn the language of the country you choose to live in. I wouldn't move to France and not learn French first!
That being said, this country is no longer christian white man country. It's a mixed ethnic melting pot and we would do ourselves a world of good to have Spanish as a second national language and teach is a mandatory course in schools because guess what? The country is changing and the Spanish-speaking population is never going to stop growing. Mexico is part of North America and South America is pretty fucking huge compared to the US so we should check our arrogance at the door and get a fucking grip. I'm not saying open the gates and let everyone in (I have big beef with immigration) but I am saying that we need to evolve as a country and grow the fuck up. So good on you for learning this!
Si, alguien que tu conoces o por lo menos alguien que tu conocias. A lo mejor si hubieras enviado e-mails como prometiste tuvieras una idea de quien soy. A lo mejor compre una mascara parati. Y de una cosa estoy segura tu n' eres la reina.
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